ISDA, the Alternative Investment Management Association, the European Association of Co-operative Banks, the European Banking Federation, the European Fund and Asset Management Association, Invest Europe, the Managed Funds Association, and the Nordic Securities Association have asked for a permanent exemption from margin requirements for equity options from the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) margin requirements.
Equity options play a significant part in the real economy. Imposing variation and initial margin requirements on these instruments would increase funding costs and operational complexity and could result in smaller EU counterparties ceasing to use equity options for hedging and risk mitigation purposes.
In addition, given some major jurisdictions are permanently exempting equity options from margin requirements, EU market participants would face a clear competitive disadvantage when dealing with non-EU counterparties.
Documents (1) for Joint Trade Associations Ask for EMIR Equity Option Margin Exemption
Latest
ISDA Comments: OSC Call for Feedback
On June 26, 2026, ISDA submitted comments to the Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC) consultation on facilitating access to its regulatory framework and reducing burden for capital markets participants by publishing a machine-readable dataset of regulatory instruments. The comments are supportive...
ISDA Comments on EP's MISP Draft Reports
On July 15, ISDA shared comments with policymakers in the European Union on the European Parliament’s (EP) draft reports by Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Markus Ferber and MEP Eero Heinäluoma on the Market Integration and Supervision Package (MISP)....
Building Markets, Creating Opportunity
Deep and liquid derivatives markets are fundamental to the development of well-functioning financial markets and healthy economies. They support lending, investment and financial stability, creating the certainty needed for economic growth. But strong derivatives markets do not emerge by chance....
Key Trends in OTC Derivatives Market H2 2025
The latest data from the Bank for International Settlements over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives statistics shows an increase in notional outstanding of OTC derivatives during the second half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Notional outstanding rose across all...